Oregon Ducks 2014 opener against South Dakota among college football's top 5 walkover games

Ken Bradley of Sporting News is out today with his list of the top walkover games of college football's 2014 opening weekend.

The Oregon Ducks, who open against South Dakota, make his list at No. 5. Here's what he says:

In 2010, the Coyotes stunned Minnesota, 41-38. That was the first of nine consecutive losses for the Gophers that season. That sort of upset will not happen in 2014. The Ducks don’t resemble the 2010 Gophers in any way, shape or form. With Marcus Mariota back at quarterback, Oregon is expected to be in the hunt for one of the four playoff spots. This game will be little more than a glorified scrimmage for the Ducks, but one they’ll use to fine-tune things before Michigan State comes to town the following Saturday. Related:South Dakota's countdown to "BEAT OREGON" has begun

Elsewhere in the Pac-12, Stanford's opener against UC Davis comes in at No. 2:

In the nine-game Pac-12 conference schedule, there’s not a lot of wiggle room. The Cardinal get their pushover in Week 1 (Army won’t be a difficult matchup in Week 3, either) but jump right into league play with a home game against USC the second week of the season. While this game won’t hurt Stanford in its quest to reach the first playoff in FBS history, the Cardinal won’t score any bonus points, either. They’ll pick their score and get the starters off the field early for the showdown with USC the following week.

And Arizona State's opener against Weber State is No. 3:

The start of the 2014 season doesn’t get much easier for a possible championship contender than it does for the Sun Devils. Weber State was bad in 2013. The Wildcats lost to Utah and Utah State in back-to-back weeks, 70-7 and 70-6, respectively. Arizona State then gets New Mexico (on the road) and travels to Boulder, Colo., to play Colorado, one of the worst teams in the Pac-12 a year ago. The Sun Devils should enjoy this stretch because after a bye week, they go play UCLA, at USC, Stanford and at Washington. We won’t know how good ASU is after three weeks, but we’ll know if the Sun Devils are championship contenders after that four-game gauntlet.